This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-38658, filed on Jul. 4, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, an apparatus, and a computer-readable medium for restoring defective memory cells. More specifically, the present invention scans the memory to see whether the memory is defective when a system starts operating and when needed, replaces a defective cell in the memory with spare memory provided therein so that spare memory rather than the defective cell, can be accessed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in accordance with the digitalization of electronic devices, the use of memory as storage media has been increasing. However, each memory cell may be damaged by dust or crystal defects so that data can no longer be written to or read from it. As the storage capacity of memory increases, the rate of defective memory cells is more likely to increase.
When writing data to or reading data from a defective memory cell, an error can occur, possibly resulting in important data loss or a system malfunction. Accordingly, when memory has defective cells, non-defective new cells are needed to replace the defective ones. This process results in wasted time and money.
Therefore, there is an unmet need in the related art to restore defective memory cells in a system that uses a memory as a storage medium.